Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Save on produce: Root Cellaring

To add to ideas to save money on fresh produce found here, you can take a page from the pioneers playbook and install a root cellar. This is not for everyone or even possible with where you live. If you are able to use a portion of your property to build one or even utilize part of your basement, you can take your gardens bounty and enjoy it through out the winter. Root crops like carrots, beets and potatoes are fairly easy to grow and keep well as do many of your gourds and squash. If you are unable to build a root cellar but have room for a garden, don't fret, many varieties of beets, carrots etc. do fine over winter just keeping them in the ground. Winter keeper varieties give you fresh produce in parts of the garden that aren't being uses during that season.

A basic walk through of building a root cellar can be found in Mother Earth News.



The wine cellar idea give a great dual purpose to the root cellar. As a brewer/vinter/meadmaker I like the idea of a place to ferment that will keep a fairly constant temperature as well as a place to keep produce.

Here are some useful links on root cellaring:

Build a Basement Root Cellar

Home grown fruit and vegetable storage.

The return of root cellars.



Using a root cellar for restaurant storage and eating local all year long.



Small scale root cellaring with food grade barrels. This is a simple easy solution for surplus crops.

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